Goodsearch.com Helps AK Earn $$$

What if Ancestral Knowledge earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause?

Well, now it can! It is that easy... give to AK just by searching the internet or online shopping.

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is also a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

Want more info about Goodsearch? See their website or read about GoodSearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Just go to Goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Ancestral Knowledge as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!

Emergency Wilderness Survival at Georgetown University

Ancestral Knowledge (AK) was asked to design and teach an emergency wilderness survival class for the Georgetown Outdoor Adventure Trainer (GOAT) program. On the weekend of 23-24 February there were about 25 GOATS on hand for AK wilderness survival instruction that included hands-on experience.

We covered all aspects of emergency survival; short term and long term survival techniques, 5-minute fires, fire by friction, proper insulation, and shelter. We also armed them with a compact emergency survival kit that would save their lives in a pinch. We included innovative aid-less navigation techniques like song lining to ensure that they could find their way if ever lost.

Georgetown Outdoor Adventure Trainer (GOAT) - A certified GOAT has completed a semester long training program that covers all the basics of wilderness survival and enjoyment. They have mastered all the necessary backcountry skills as well as how to make sure people are having a good time and getting something positive out of their wilderness experience.

The group built the most incredible survival camp along side the Potomac River including a debris wall for wind protection and heat reflection. They constructed the sweetest debris hut to sleep in, which two participants endure the icy cold night. They fully experienced wilderness living and how fulfilling it is to stay in a cozy shelter.

Field and Stream Columnist Learns Wild Edible Plants

Field and Stream’s columnist, Bill Heavey, is learning mid-Atlantic wild edibles jointly from Ancestral Knowledge and Earth Connection. Bill Heavey has come to learn from our hard gained wild edible knowledge to build on his own knowledge-base. Who knows, maybe Ancestral Knowledge and Earth Connection will give him some material for his column.

Bill Heavey’s Column

Bill Heavey has been a professional journalist for over 20 years and our favorite type of journalist too—full-time freelance outdoors writer (there are so few of them left these days).

Bill is currently an editor-at-large for Field & Stream, where he has written since 1993. He has also contributed to Modern Maturity, Readers Digest, National Geographic Traveler, Field and Stream, Men's Journal, Outside, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Best American Magazine Writing and Washingtonian Magazine. He has been recognized for his written work with two prestigious National Magazine Award nominations and awarded the American Pain Society’s (APS) first journalist award, the Kathleen M. Foley Journalist Award. I even hear he was nominated for president of the United States in 2008 by one of his fans.

Field and Stream has seen fit to bundle some of Heavey's best work into a single volume, If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat? (Atlantic Monthly Press, $23).

Amazon’s note on his book states, “[Field and Stream’s] first collection of Heavey’s sidesplitting observations on life as a hardcore (but often hapless) outdoors man. Whether he’s hunting cougars in the southwest desert, scheming to make his five-year-old daughter fall in love with fishing, or chronicling his father’s slow decline through the lens of the numerous dogs he’s owned over seventy-five years, Heavey is a master at blending humor and pathos—and wide-ranging outdoor enthusiasms that run the gamut from elite to ordinary—into a poignant and potent cocktail. Funny, warmhearted, and supremely entertaining, this book is an uproarious addition to the literature of the outdoors.”

Funniest outdoor book we've read in a long time. Recommended.

Message from the President

Welcome to the new AK Blog and our world of outdoor adventure, exploration and fun – with a purpose. The blog provides information regarding Ancestral Knowledge happenings and events. Check-in on us often. See what’s new. Take part in our excitement.

AK has been promoting and teaching ancient ways as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for over four years. Our mission is to develop and provide outdoor educational experiences for children, families, organizations, and individuals to help open their mind, body, and spirit to our earth’s delicate environment and ecosystems.

I have been practicing and now teaching primitive skills for approximately 10 years. Each new skill I acquire and even incremental improvement of old ones, improves my abilities and offers new insights of how our natural world fits together in a poetic symbiosis. Our students also flourish and brim with enthusiasm, as they gain understanding and respect for the delicate web of life.

The outdoors has always been a natural environment for children to play. AK teaches wonderful skills to enhance their outdoor learning and excite their natural curiosity. Building shelters to protect from the cold and other hardy elements, foraging for tasty woodland treats, mastering the arts of stealth, stalking and camouflage to gain protection from enemies and to obtain food sources, tracking animals to understand their behavior are just a few of the activities which greatly enhance their experiences outside. Knowing how to use natural materials to survive and thrive also empowers our AK children while developing mindful adults.

We invite you and your family to visit our website and blog, and to join our growing AK community.

See you outdoors,

Jamey Hueston, President Ancestral Knowledge